When it comes to acting, Swinton is a master at saying things without words. Swinton recently visited Dallas to promote her new film, “Young Adam,” which she costars with Ewan McGregor.

In the film, Swinton plays Ella, a river-barge owner who hires a young drifter (McGregor). Things get complicated when a corpse is found drifting in the water.

The tale is a sensual thriller that — because it contains the tamest flash of full-frontal nudity — has been rated NC-17.

But Swinton has been at the forefront of daring, intellectual and graphic filmmaking ever since her debut, “Caravaggio” (1986). That film started a collaboration with the late Derek Jarman, the visionary British filmmaker who’s credited for fathering the New Queer Cinema movement.

Also in 1993, Swinton starred as the immortal, gender-switching nobleman in “Orlando.” And who could forget her performance as the fiercely devoted mother of a gay son in 2001’s “The Deep End?”

Swinton is tall: 5’11”. And in person, she’s so supernaturally beautiful, she’s like an alien-terrestrial who secretly inhabits Earth.

“But I am,” she says while widening her green eyes. “I’ve always felt a close connection to David Bowie on those grounds.”

As a mother of twins — a boy and a girl — Swinton was stopped in her tracks by a Mother’s Day question: about parents accepting their children’s sexuality.

“A child’s sexuality is none of anybody’s business — not even the mother’s,” she says firmly. “There are bank managers who can’t bear the idea that their sons are going to be bad at math. And there are amateur dramatic mothers who can’t stand the idea of the children not being performers. Of course, I joke that my children will end up being Nazis. Because one’s worst fear is that you won’t be able to take part in your child’s life. And that’s a selfish fear,” she continues.

For mothers who are having any difficulty accepting their child’s sexuality, Swinton suggests they read the parenthood section of Lebanese philosopher Kahlil Gibran’s “The Prophet.”

“It talks about the parent being like an archer. You simply draw your arm back and you let your arrow go. The arrow will go further than you could ever travel. It’s not for you to follow the arrow. And you should never skew the arrow so that it will land close to the bow,” she explains. “It’s such a privilege to have children. And on children go. In a way, they come from you. But you can’t go where they’re going.

May 4, 2004: “Young Adam” opens today exclusively at the Angelika Film Center.